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Blisters!

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

The hikers nemesis, what can we do? I will share my experience with them and please comment with your tips.

Very few hikers can say they never get blisters. I have a few friends who have claimed in the past they had the perfect blister-proof boots. Then I found out they’d never taken a very difficult hike in them. 🙂

Some hard-core climber guys I know have showed me calluses that are large and well established enough to protect their feet but this would never fly for a girl. We use pumice stones and spend lots of money on pedicures to prevent our feet from looking that way.

The right socks help. I’m a huge fan of the ‘Wright Sock’ for running but I have not seen their amazingly effective 2-layer system implemented into a hiking-type sock. Often, I mimic it by using a good smart wool hiker over top of a nylon dress sock. It works fairly well but if you are particularly susceptible to blisters or if you already have huge blisters from hiking in new boots and commit to doing something, like….oh, say, participating in a mini-triathlon there is only one solution I’ve found. Duct tape. As long as you put it on when your feel are dry it will keep any chafing from occurring. One caveat: get the good stuff. Pay an extra buck and don’t get seduced into trying cute pink or purple versions. Silver is the color. If it does not stick securely you will be worse off than if you had not put it on at all.

What are your methods for preventing blisters? I know you’ve got your opinions so share!

Winter Hikes – Pros and Cons

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

We know it’s tougher to get out in the dead of winter. The days are shorter and of course it’s much colder. You might need more gear (snowshoes can be helpful) and sometimes you feel like that kid on a Christmas Story. You know: ‘I can’t move my arms’.

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Sometimes you might just feel like flying somewhere warm to get your outdoors time, and that’s a good option also, but if you bundle up and make the effort the rewards are there. You might see more wildlife in the winter as food gets scarce, like this big horn sheep.

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One of my favorite things to do is hike along creeks in the winter – becareful not to tread on thin ice – and look at the beautiful way the water freezes into into interesting ice shapes and then snow falls on top of it. Truly amazing the variety of designs nature offers up.

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Getting the Lead Out

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

I had the idea for making this a hiking blog a year ago. My last post proclaiming it a hiking blog was Jan 21st, 2009. Since then I have not posted a single word. But, with the start of ... [Continue reading this entry]